Weatherford International PLC $WFRD Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 23.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,851 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,700 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $3,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Weatherford International during the 4th quarter worth $61,399,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Weatherford International by 1,096.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Weatherford International by 154.3% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,324,000 after buying an additional 703,401 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group upgraded Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.56.

Weatherford International Price Performance

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $84.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $91.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.77. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $52.70 and a 1 year high of $113.15. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.70%.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In related news, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $1,357,440.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total transaction of $516,540.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) is a global oilfield services company specializing in the development, design and manufacturing of equipment and technologies for oil and natural gas drilling, evaluation, completion and production. The company’s core offerings include well construction services such as directional drilling and wellbore positioning, well completion solutions that encompass sand control and zonal isolation technologies, and production enhancement services involving artificial lift systems and well intervention tools.

In addition to its comprehensive service lines, Weatherford provides a range of drilling optimization and reservoir evaluation products.